Method of forming axle housings



v May 28,1929. A.L.ILANIBERT 1,715,135

METHOD OF FORMING AXLE HOUSINGS Filed Dec. 15, 1925- J, (5 HIH IIHHIH' -1 I lllllu.

' I INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented May 2a, 1929.

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ALBERT. L. LAMBERT, OF NARBETH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR' T EEINTZ MANU- FACTURING COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, EENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD or FORMING AXLE nousrnes.

Application filed December 15,1923. Serial No. 680,793.

This invention pertains, in the main, to the construction of axle housings and it has to do in particular with the formation of housings which are employed with the rear axles of automobiles- Probably the greatest use of my invention will be in constructing axle housings but I desire to be understood that it is not my intention to be so limited in the scope of use of the essentials of my invention for it may be employed in constructing metal articles or parts thereof which are used in fields entirely foreign to that of the automobile industry.

The primary aim of my invention is to construct metal articles or parts in an entirely new and novel manner which materially re- I duces the amount of'material heretofore used in constructing the same'articles. 'By employing my improved method, I accomplish the purpose 'of making an article or a part much lighter in weight while at the same time I have not reduced the strength of the article or part at any place where strength is essential.

. A further and particular object of my invention is to construct an improved housing for the rear axle of an automobile which will be lighter in weight than those heretofore constructed to perform the same duty and which will serve its purpose in a thoroughly satisfactory manner.

In the accompanying drawings, 1 have illustrated an. article in its various steps of manufacture, and the construction of this preferred article aptly shows the practice of my invention. 7

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a blank employed informing an axle housing; the dotted lines representing the original shape of the blank; I

Fig. 2 is a topplan view of a blank employed in forming an axle housing by my. improved method; this view also shows the size of the blank after some of the steps of my improved method of manufacture have been completed;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the blank before being blanked and bent into final form;

Fig. 4c is a view of a complete housing for an axle;

, Fig. 5 is a, sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4;; l

Fig. 6 is a. sectional view taken on the line 6+6 of Fig. l; r p i Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 77 of Fig. 2 after the completion of one step of my improved method of manufac ture; p

Fig. 8 is a sectional viewtaken on the line ,8.8 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken onthe line 990fFig. l;- g h Fig. 10 is a side 'elevational view of dies employed for stretching va portionj l of the blank; I i

Fig. 11 is a sectional 1111 of Fig. 10; and

Fig. 12 is a view of the base portion of the top die showing a means for holding the blank from slipping during the stretching operation. I I

In describingmy invention indetaihit will be of advantage to set forth onev of the usual methods which have heretofore been employed in producing axle housings and for this purpose reference is made to Fig. 1. In this figure the dotted lines represent thev outline of a rectangular fiat sheetl of metal from which a top or bottom part or half'of as shown in Fig.1, engage like points of the other bent half of the axle housing asillus trated in Fig. 4.. In the method heretofore employed it will be noted from Fig. 1. that there is a considerable amount of material cut away from the original size blank to form the shape actually used, thus there is a large 7 view taken on the line I 7 an axle housing is formed. The original amount of Waste as all of the material be-"I tween the dotted and full lines is useless except to blank out the points 4. 1 I A complete axle housing usually consists of two halves or parts 2 and 3 and after they have been bent into final form they are welded Myinvention has to do with an improved 'method of forming'the axle housing from unit pieces of material whereby the amount of waste is reduced and the weight of the finally formed housing is also reduced. Both of these results are accomplished without in any way lmpalring the necessary strength of the housing. In forming a part or half of a housing, by my improved method, I take a single rectangular piece 5 of sheet metal rep tened section as shown in Fig. 8 is preferably obtained by pressing or flattening the middle section that has "been stretched. It is'to be understood that it is not necessary to flatten v this portion of the housing unless desired. I have shown it flattened simply to illustrate the manner in which a particular design may be accomplished. I

Any suitable means may be employed to stretch the metal sheet and I have shown one 7 such means in- Figs. 10, 11 and 12 which are particularly adapted to perform this step. The original sheet 5 is placed on a suitable die 9 having a central channel 10 and it is then clamped in position by a cooperating die 11 which is moved into position as illustrated in Fig. 11. Any preferred means may be employed tohold the dies together. A plunger 12 is then forced downward to stretch the material between the dies thus forming a cross sectional shape of the blankat its central portion as illustrated in Fig. 7. Since it is desirable to stretch only a certain length of the blank near its center in order to obtain suflicient width to blank out points 8, I provide gripping dies 13 with roughened surfaces 14 which engage only-predetermined lengths of the edges of the middle of the piece and prevent slipping thereof. The lengths of these gripping surfaces may be noted in Figs. 10 and 12. The extensions of the piece which lie beyond the gripping surfaces are permitted to slide between the dies and are bent into semicircular shape by the downward movement of plunger 12, as shownin Fig. 5. These extensions are known in the art as the arm sections of the housing and are represented at 15 and 16. It will be noted that from this step in the method that only the center of the central body section of the metal sheet is stretched along'its smaller axis and that the edges of this section, which are held between the dles, remain at their original thickness. These edges are bent in the final bending operation toform flanges 17 of the bowed out portion of the central section.

After the sheet has been stretched, it is preferably flattened until it takes the shape as illustrated in Fig. 3 and then it is cut of the article.

or blanked in the usual manner to form the desired shape which includes the points 8 so that when bent into final shape it will form an axle housing of proper shape and dimensions. The sectional views in Figs. 5, 6, 8 and 9 illustrate the condition of thickness of the metal at the arm sections 15 and 16, at the beginning of the bowing of the central section and at the middle of the central section where it is shown to be of channel section as particularly illustrated inFig. 8. It will be noted that the center18 of the central section'between the flanges 17 is of less thickness than the thickness of the flanges and of the remainder of the piece or blank. As most of the strain, which develops during the operation of the vehiclev in which a housing of this nature is employed will be taken by the flanges 17 it isnot necessary that the center 18 of the housing shall be of equal thickness with those portions which are subjected to great strains. I therefore find that'by decreasing the thickness of the material at this central body section that it is possible to form a half of a housing from an original sheet of metal of much smaller dimensions than has heretoforebeen possible and I also find that the weight of the housing is thereby reduced. These are some of the particular advantages which are derived from theuse ofijmy improved method in constructing a housing of substantially the same strength as housings heretofore produced and the use of this method accomplishes this purpose at a material reduction in cost of the raw material. I I

It will be seen that by stretching a portion of an original blank of material'that it is possible to make an article, or a part of an article, from a much smaller blank of'material than has heretofore been pos. sible and that the ease and operation of constructing the final shape of the article are very much enhanced. For this reason, I wish it to be understood that it is possible to employ my method to form other articles of manufacture, or parts thereof, in the man- .ner which I haveemployed in forming axle housings and thereby reduce the cost of production and also materially reduce the weight only of an elongated sheet of metal so as to widen and reduce the thickness of said'cen ter portion with respect to the adjacent side edge portions of said sheet.

2. The method of forming the bow portion of an axle housing, which consists in expanding the longitudinal center portion only of an elongated sheet of metal so as to widen and reduce the thickness of said center portion with respect to the adjacent side edge portions of said sheet, and bend: ing the sheet transversely into U-shape.

3. The method of formingthe bow portion of an axle housing, which consists in expanding the longitudinal center portion only of an elongated sheet of metal so as to widen and reduce the thickness of said center portion with respect to the adjacent side edge portions of said sheet, bending the sheet transverselyinto U-shape, and bending the sheet longitudinally into bow form.

4. The method of forming part of an article which consists in the following steps,

stretching a portion of a metal sheet, cutting said sheet to predetermined size and outline, and bending the sheet into final form. 2

5. The method offorming part of an axle housing Which consists in the following steps, stretching the central body section of a sheet metal blank, flattening the same, cutting the flattened'blank, and bending it into final 30 tion of a sheet metal blank between dies, 35

stretching the central section thereof which is not between the dies, substantially fiattening the sheet after stretching, blanking.

the sheet between dies, and bendingit into final form. 40

This specification signed this eleventh day of December, 1923. t

ALBERT L. LAMBERT. 

